IT wasn’t for the want of trying last Saturday, but Mark Jones won’t feel he’s fully back in the Wrexham fold until he scores his first Blue Square Premier goal.

Nevertheless, the former Wales midfielder, who rejoined his hometown club in the summer after 12 months at Rochdale, is delighted to be back at the Racecourse and is fully focused on picking up the threads of what many in the game had forecast as a glittering career.

It’s only three seasons ago that Jones finished his best-ever campaign with 15 goals and also made his international debut, but in the intervening years a combination of injuries and events at Wrexham conspired to destroy his confidence and put his future in doubt.

Trying to put his finger on what went wrong, Jones said: “I had a couple of years when I was not able to do my pre-season training, firstly because of injury and then because I didn’t join Rochdale until just before the start of the season.

“In my last year here I was not being picked, even when I was fit, and the team were struggling, so things didn’t work out for me and leaving was the right thing to do.

“Maybe I had got a bit stale after being at Wrexham so long, so I don’t regret going to Rochdale because it probably helped me to grow up a lot.”

Since rejoining the Dragons, however, Jones has hit the ground running, despite plenty of healthy competition for midfield places in the new-look side constructed by manager Dean Saunders.

“It’s hard to play well when you are not fully fit,” added Jones.

“But I got a full pre-season under my belt this time, tough though it was, and I’ve also been doing extra work with (fitness coach) Mal Purchase, so I feel great.

“And it’s nice to feel wanted, especially when there are so many other good players at the club this year.

“Nathan (Fairhurst) for example is an excellent player, who is having to be patient at the moment, but that level of competition is always healthy.

“And I’m enjoying playing under Dean because he tells all the midfield players to have a crack at goal whenever the chance comes up. He takes the view that if you don’t shoot you won’t score.”

Jones was not alone in putting that theory to the test during last Saturday’s opening day 3-0 win against Eastbourne Borough, the goals being claimed by fellow midfielder Hedi Taboubi from a free kick and striker Gareth Taylor, who netted two.

“I should have scored at least one as well,” said Jones. “Maybe it was the excitement of scoring a goal again, but I just didn’t catch the ball right.

“But I’ll always fancy my chances and once the first one goes in for me, hopefully there will be more to follow.”

Wrexham face a much tougher match this weekend with a visit to Crawley Town, but Jones said it was important not to look too far ahead.

“Since I was last here, the gaffer has assembled a good squad of players, but we have to take each game as it comes and hopefully we can stay at the top end of the table so that we are in contention when it really matters,” he added.

Wrexham began their defence of the Football League Youth Alliance League title with a 4-0 win at Rochdale yesterday.

The young Dragons scored twice in each half through Jamie Colbeck, Jordan Kane, Nick Rushton and Ed Moss.